TO CHEW ON: "They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons after whom the have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations." Leviticus 17:7
Were these people knowingly sacrificing to demons? The word "demons" - "having the form of a goat or a satyr" has overtones of animism. The picture I get is of a people puzzled by and fearful of natural phenomenon. But instead of acknowledging God as the creator and sustainer of life, they are trying to appease some folk god (goat or satyr) thought to be in charge of these things.
However it came about, this false worship offended God at the deepest level. An end note in my Bible expands on this:
"The greatest sin in ancient Israel was idolatry (see Deuteronomy 32:17)...The essence of the Jewish monotheistic faith was contained in the verse, "Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" - Deuteronomy 6:4 (New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 153).
Though we ourselves may eschew any overt involvement with the demonic, I wonder if there remains a vestige of it even in the lingering hold superstitions have on us. Do we ever find ourselves thinking, after a day has got off to a bad start: There's bound to be more because bad things always come in threes? Or saying things like "Gesundheit" after a sneeze, or "Touch wood" after mentioning that things are going well? Or fearing Friday the 13th? Or avoiding black cats and walking under ladders? Or needing to wear certain lucky clothes and go through certain luck-generating routines before a sports event?
Any fear we feel, any changes in behaviour we make that are inspired by superstition show that at some level we're sacrificing — to what? Demons? God's prohibition to Israel through Moses's words in Leviticus ring across the centuries to us today: "They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons..."
PRAYER: Dear God, help me to recognize false worship in my life in whatever form it takes. Please free me from bondage to superstition or anything else that would make me a slave to anyone but You. Amen.
PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 35
MORE: Do you believe in bad luck?
Well don't! As John Piper writes in article he wrote on a Friday that was also the 13th day of the month:
"In Christ there is no Bad Luck"
"Today is Friday the 13th! Bad luck day.
In case this or any other superstition frightens you or, worse, controls you, take the sword of the Spirit and kill it.
Here’s a few sword thrusts that I use.
There is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, “What has God wrought!” (Numbers 23:23)
Does this apply to us Christians? Yes. Because “It is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7). That’s us. We are Jacob. We are Israel.
And because we are, "all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
So in Christ we cannot be cursed. There is no jinx or hex that can stick against those who are in Christ Jesus.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. (Galatians 3:13)
Christ took on himself every curse that is against me. God is for me and no one can successfully be against me.
He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1John 4:4)
© 2011 Desiring God
****************
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
